Sometimes it seems like cab drivers are the last remnant of surly, rude, angry New York. They’ll argue about anything, they don’t want to go to Brooklyn and they’re the only tip-based service workers for whom the customer is never right. A new study by three NYU doctors has found that all of that attitude might just be because they just really need to take a leak.
Many cab drivers work 12-hour shifts and with the never-ending pressures of UBER-encroachment, higher gas prices, Citi Bike installation and now a decrease in the speed limit. They feel like they can’t stop, so they just hold it. Not to mention that they have to find parking AND a public restroom in a city that doesn’t have much of either.
According to Dr. Alon Mass, one of the study’s authors, “They don’t drink enough water, and they hold their urine. A lot of the drivers hold their urine for a whole shift.” Either practice is harmful to the body, but not drinking enough and holding it in is pretty much guaranteed to cause problems. “Infrequent voiders” risk developing infertility, kidney stones, bladder cancer and urinary-tract infections.
So next time that cab driver won’t open the door until you tell them where you’re going, just promise a public restroom is close to your destination. (Photo: alq666)
